1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to vine growing and more particularly to supports which are utilized for this growing and a method for the use thereof.
2. Discussion of the Background
In an effort to reduce labor costs, vine-related work is becoming increasingly mechanized, and vines are more and more often attached in a manner so as to allow the passage of machines or vehicles between the rows of vine bases.
During the growth of vine branches, two or three cutting or trimming operations take place successively:
trimming or "dressing" in winter,
a sickling (a short time before the wine harvest, to remove excess foliage which would cause problems during the harvest) is normally performed at a level higher than the vine posts or trellises,
the grape harvest itself.
During the growth of the vine, long, high, leafy stems grow. To allow the vehicles to continue to circulate, these high stems are brought closer to the rows of the vine bases using "raising wires". The high stems are thus typically enclosed with two "raising wires" located at approximately the same level and enclosing each row of vine bases. These raising wires are hooked into notches in the fence posts or vine poles, and are raised as the vine grows.
For dressing, the raising wires are eliminated, but the posts which supported these raising wires as well as the other wires or "training wires" remain. These are cumbersome because they exceed the trimming height, and the cutting machines have to be carefully maneuvered to avoid the posts and achieve a complete cutting. This hindrance due to the posts which are as high as the highest level of the raising wires causes significant time loss. This problem existed in manual cutting, but is now much more pronounced with mechanized cutting.
No document known to the applicant leads to a solution to the problem presented. West German Patent application DE-A No. 3 203 398 discloses the fixing of the position of vine branches with a vine wire which utilizes a specially shaped clamp. However, such a clamp does not provide a solution to the difficulty with mechanized cutting since the poles which support the raising wires are still too high and get in the way of cutting operations.
Thus there remains a strongly felt need for a vine support means which does not hinder the process of trimming or cutting the vines.